Time Desk
by Kusco
Summary: Jeff, Annie, Troy and Abed discover an actual working Time Desk. Time Traveling Shenanigans ensue.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: The story technically takes place during season 3 but I actually wrote it during the summer hiatus between seasons 2 and 3 so no references to Inspector Spacetime and such. Consider it a slightly alternate reality ;)

Chapter 1

Nearly six P.M. and here he was still at Greendale.

There were quite a few things that Jeff hated. Making a list would have been an exercise in exhaustion due to length. But Greendale After hours, was easily near the top of it. Sure, in two and a half years of attending this college he'd grown to accept it, but there were still so many days he wanted to torch the damn thing. And he always wanted to do it whenever circumstances trapped him there past his final class.

It wouldn't be so bad if there was an event going on. But no. He just stalked the halls like an idiot, throwing open occasional doors and looking inside them. He'd already checked the study room, the storage closet, and even checked a couple of girl's bathrooms. He figured he was probably the only person left in this hell hole. The slap to the face said otherwise.

Still he persisted. If she'd just answer her damn phone he could find her, give her a speech and then call it a day.

"Well Jeffery! What brings you these hallowed halls so late?" Dean Pelton's voice squeaked with glee from behind. Jeff stiffened up for a second, exactly the _last_ person he wanted to see after hours.

He about faced and looked the Dean over. The squirrely man wore a black leather trench coat over a silver suit that shimmered just a bit whenever it caught the light. He framed his head with a dark pair of shades and the beard he'd grown at the beginning of the year was as pedophiley as ever.

"What are you supposed to be?" Jeff asked. "Neo's ambiguous brother?"

Even as he said it, Jeff had to admit that this was one of the 'less' creepy get ups he'd seen the dean in. At least it wasn't the Ronald McDonald costume again. Jeff had never been afraid of clowns but after that waking nightmare he wanted to be.

"We're hosting the Greendale Movie festival in the cafeteria," the dean puffed up his chest as if that was something important. "To kick it off we're viewing the nineties classic, _Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure_!"

"I see," Jeff said. "So you're Rufus' ambiguous cousin."

"Close," the dean laughed. "Actually, after the movie we'll be screening part one of a little indie film I had Abed do for me, and I figured I'd dress like the titular character. Dean Dangerous!"

"What time is the screening?" Jeff said in spite of himself. There was just too much morbid curiosity running in his brain now. Before the dean could answer, Jeff's brain kicked back in and he banished the thought of watching the worst movie ever. "Nevermind, have you seen Annie?"

"Annie?" the dean tilted his head a little. "What for? You and her have been-"

"Look have you seen her or not!" Jeff cut him off. The last thing he wanted was the dean's opinion on what had been going on between Annie and himself this year.

"She just left the cafeteria, a few minutes ago. She was looking for Abed."

"Abed," Jeff did his best to keep his face straight.

"Yeah, what's been going on with you and Abed th-"

"Which way did she go?"

The moment the dean pointed Jeff broke into a run. Stupid dean, stupid Abed. He was sick of this. Things just hadn't been the same after he found out about the "Han and Leia" kiss. Abed kept insisting it meant nothing but Jeff just couldn't let it go.

He wanted to. Abed was like the little brother he never had. But he knew that kiss and Annie's subsequent crush on Abed was the reason why things were just… off between him and Annie. No more 'milords'. No more lingering stares. No more being the first to him in group hugs. It was like she shut off around him. It had to be the kiss's fault. Why couldn't things just get back to normal with them? That's all he wanted.

Well deep down he knew that was a lie but he wasn't going to admit it.

But she was impossible. Today was a perfect example. He'd noticed that she was unusually quiet in study group. Not that he spent a lot of time looking at her. For the most part she only nodded or gave one word answers. Clearly something was bothering her, but when he tried to talk she just told him he wouldn't understand and tried to leave. He'd had enough of this cold shoulder routine and insisted she tell him the problem. Her answer was as cold as her eyes had been.

"What do you care Jeff? I'm not someone you can just fix with pretty words! It takes hard work and dedication to help someone! Something you wouldn't know a thing about!"

"What do you mean I don't know anything about hard work? I haven't run the dean down with my Lexus in spite of him walking in front of it almost every morning."

"That's so typical," she shook her head. " Jeff Winger makes a joke instead of actually talking to someone. I've heard this before. I'll go swim in the shallow end where I'm welcome now."

"What are you talking… Annie! You're acting crazy!"

Her eyes widened at this and Jeff actually stepped back when they seemed to fill with fire and she clenched her fists. "I'm not crazy Jeff! I'm not!"

She stormed off and he spent the rest of the day looking for her. Something much bigger than he thought was going on and he had to show her that she was wrong. He did care about her and wanted her to be happy. She just couldn't understand it.

A familiar voice caught his attention when he passed the storage closet. He'd already checked it once but Annie had probably been searching for Abed at that point. He slowed his pace as he neared the door. He heard another voice, also familiar, and one he didn't want to hear.

"Well I'm glad you're okay," Rich said as Jeff creaked the door open. "You were so worked up, you looked like one of the puppies I babysit on the weekend! I just hope this warm coco I keep in this thermos cheers you up!"

"Thanks Rich!" Annie's voice came out with the tiniest sniffle. "That really helped!"

"I'm always here if you need me.," Rich said and held out his arms. Annie rushed into them and squeezed tightly. Jeff gripped the doorknob hard enough his knuckles cracked. Why did this feel like walking in on a girlfriend sleeping with someone in his own bed?

They broke from the hug and that's when they noticed him standing in the doorway. Annie's eyes went from surprised, to nervous, to furious in the space of two seconds and Rich only beamed at him.

"Jeff!" he said. "I was just leaving! I'm due at Greendale General in about thirty minutes. It's not far but I like to get there early so I can serve this chocolate to the nurses and secretaries."

"Don't let me keep you," Jeff said but kept his eyes on Annie. She just crossed her arms defiantly.

"Okay…" Rich glanced between the two and somehow got the message. As he passed Jeff he put a hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "Just be nice okay? She's only twenty."

Jeff nearly punched the other man. He never hated Rich more than when he knew the good doctor was right. He watched Rich leave the closet then walked all the way in and closed the door behind him. He was going to sort this out one way or another.

"Annie," he decided to skip right to the heart of the matter. "What's going on with you today? What's wrong?"

"I told you that you wouldn't understand." She said and grabbed the steaming cup of coco Rich left on a nearby shelf. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Unless it's Abed or Doctor Do-know-wrong. You'll talk their ears off."

"I needed someone to talk to," she shrugged.

"Yeah, and I offered to listen several hours ago! So what you really mean is that you don't want to talk about it with _me_. Annie what's going on? You used to come to me with your problems all the time. Somehow they're better than me?"

"I don't need you to hold my hand," she turned away. "I can take care of myself in case you haven't noticed."

"And I'd believe you if you hadn't been pouring your heart out to Rich or looking for Abed."

"Rich and Abed don't patronize me!"

"Patronize? What are you talking about?"

"I'm not stupid Jeff!" she snapped. "I figured it out last year before paintball. I used to come to you because I thought you cared for me and respected me. But after… I mean… I realized that all times I thought you were there for me because you cared or were interested, you just saw me as some kid that couldn't take care of herself. And no matter how hard I've tried to show you that I can do fin on my own you keep relegating me to the 'kid's table'. I can handle you not wanting to be anything but my friend, but I can't handle you not respecting me."

Jeff almost took a step back. All the behavior she'd mentioned was a defense mechanism for himself, to keep their relationship the way it was supposed to be. But at no time did he want her to think he didn't respect her. And here he had thought that this was all about the awkwardness with Abed.

Still there was something else that bothered him.

"Annie… we need to talk about what you just said but there's more, isn't there? If you wanted to show me that you could take care of yourself, then why were you leaning on others for support?"

The line's on Annie's face tightened and she hugged her arms around herself self but refused to look at him. "I _can_ take care of myself," she said firmly, but emotion was cracking in just a bit. "I know I can handle myself… on any day but today."

Jeff's brows furrowed together as her eyes sort of wandered off to a memory and her bottom lip pressed the top into a frown.

"Why? What happened to you today?"

Annie shook her head. "Just forget it."

He grabbed her shoulders until she actually made eye contact. "Annie, just tell me."

She suddenly became very interested in her hands, folding her fingers over each other and playing with the hem of her blouse. She backed away so he wasn't touching her anymore before she sighed and paid him a small glance before throwing her gaze elsewhere.

"Okay, not _today_ today. This is kind of… kind of an anniversary for me."

"Anniversary?"

"Yeah, four years ago today I OD'd on Adderall and had a mental breakdown."

"Oh."

"It's always a hard day for me to remember. I look back on myself and I can't believe I was that dumb. Did you know I forged a doctor's signature to get a prescription? I thought I was so clever for it. A couple hours later I was running through the hall screaming that everybody was a robot."

"And I called you crazy," now Jeff didn't want to look her in the eye. "Annie, I'm really sorry."

"You didn't know," she shook her head. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. _I'm_ sorry."

"No," Jeff shook his head and managed to look at her. She looked so small and sad. For half a second he had to stop himself from reaching out to her. She seemed determined to not let him touch her right now. "Annie, I know I really suck at being that guy that's sensitive or whatever, and I know that you don't want to talk about it with me… but I really want to help if I can."

She eyed him like a trapped animal stares at a human trying to release it. Jeff almost held out his hand to her, but stopped because it would have been overly dramatic. All he could do was hope that she would see he was sincere and that he never meant to hurt her. All he wanted now was to get the forlorn look off her face.

Finally she shook her head and took another step away.

"I can't keep doing it Jeff," she said. "Not if you're doing this because you think I look like a lost puppy or a kid sister that bruised her knee. This is the worst day of my life we're talking about. I've opened myself up too many times and been slapped away."

A strange twist hit Jeff in the gut. Yes, things were strained between them but he had no idea it was this bad.

"Annie, I wouldn't slap you away, you know that I care about you."

Her features fell and her voice came out cold. "My mom said something a lot like that when she asked me to tell her about my addiction. She said she'd never abandon me. That lasted right until I checked myself in for rehab. We haven't spoken in three years."

In spite of several instincts telling him otherwise, Jeff took a step toward her. "I'm not your mom. I'm here right now, you don't have to be alone today."

"I'm always alone on this day Jeff," she said but she didn't back away. "Nobody was there for me on that day. Not even after I crashed through the plate glass door. I just laid there bleeding and nobody came to help me. None of my classmates, none of my teachers. It was janitor that barely spoke English that finally called the ambulance."

"Wait… no one tried to help you?" Jeff stepped closer to her again. "So you just bled on the concrete until the ambulance came?"

Annie nodded but her head froze mid way through. Her eyes were still distant. "Well… there was only one person. I… it's not really a very clear memory. I remember wondering why this was happening to me, and then someone, a doctor I think, spoke to my mom when the paramedics were wheeling me into the hospital. The doctor told my mom that everything would turn out alright and that this was happening for a reason. I was in and out of consciousness but for some reason it made me feel like it was true. That things would be alright."

"A doctor," Jeff repeated and couldn't help but think of Rich. It was too big of a coincidence but in some morbid way, it made sense to him that Rich would have been that doctor. He was perfect after all. Jeff had finally come to grips with that much at least. He just didn't know how to deal with being second best. Especially when it came to Annie.

But there was something more. Something about the way she described the events. An uneasy feeling crept up his spine and he tried to remember what he would have been doing four years ago. It would have been not very long before Allan got him disbarred. He would have been doing his lawyer thing, probably sleeping with a co-ed or client. He shook the memories away and turned his attention back to her.

"I guess you can take a picture," he said with a half smile. "Because I think this is the first time I have no idea what to say."

Annie cracked a small smile in spite of herself and cleared some hair over her ear. "You don't have to say anything, I'm not usually like this, just today. Normally I realize that in some weird way, that day led me here so it turned out alright."

"So if you could go back and change it… would you?"

Jeff wasn't even sure why he was asking. The entire idea of thinking that past tragedies meaning something bigger just because they changed your life's direction smacked of idiotic concepts of destiny and fate. He certainly would never believe that getting disbarred was ultimately a good thing. He knew for a fact that if he had the chance to change things he would.

"Well, I…" she said but stopped when the door opened and Abed appeared.

Ever since the revelation of the kiss happened, Jeff had to bite back a bit of resentment toward his friend whenever he saw him. He hated it, but he couldn't help it. However, this time was different. Abed's appearance stole that away. He was dressed in black jeans and a tiger striped t-shirt. On his face he had a bandit's mask and one hand carried a cricket bat.

"Hey," Abed's eyes darted between them. "Have you guys seen Troy?"

"No," Jeff said with an undertone of 'get lost', then almost cringed when he heard Annie let out frustrated sigh.

"I'm really not in the mood for this today," she said. "Jeff the kiss between-"

Jeff's eyes already searched for a way out. He'd already pushed his emotional capacity to the limit today, he didn't need having _this_ conversation added to it. Thankfully his escape appeared in the sound of Troy's overly animated voice.

"I'm back! Guys I'm back! I'm back!"

Troy appeared in the doorway behind Abed. It took a moment for Jeff to see past the frenzied hugging that Troy wore the same bandit mask. But he didn't have the tiger stripes, instead he sported a black and red striped shirt and black shorts. A bent golf club strapped to his back topped off the bizarre look.

"Troy!" Abed beamed. "I guess you win! I couldn't find you for a whole 10 minutes."

"Ten minutes?" Troy stepped back. "What do you mean ten minutes! I've been gone for like four hours!"

"Guys what's going on?" Annie stepped forward. "Why are you dressed like that?"

"Later Annie," Troy waved her off. "Abed, what do you mean only ten minutes?"

"Are you guys doing some weird homage again?" Jeff crossed his arms.

"We were just playing Calvinball," Abed shook his head. "But I'm just as clueless as you right now. Troy, look at your watch. It's only been ten minutes since you hid."

Troy frowned but did exactly as his BFF said. His eyes bugged out when he saw the time and he backed away. "That's wrinkling my brain! That's… that's… awesome!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jeff said.

"You guys won't believe me if I tell you," Troy said. "But I can totally show you!"

Abed ran right after Troy but Jeff and Annie lingered for a second, both them trying to figure out if this Greendale insanity was worth breaking up the moment they were having. Jeff was the first to go after them. Things had been getting uncomfortable after all. Annie was right behind him.

They turned a corner just in time to see Troy and Abed run into the dean's office. Didn't that man ever lock the damn thing? Jeff pushed the thought to the back burner and sprinted into the office, only to find it empty. However, it was easy to figure out where they'd gone.

The top of the desk had flipped open and revealed a spiral staircase beneath. Annie caught up to Jeff and gasped at the sight. He circled the desk, and peered down the stairs. How was this even possible? The dean had a secret stairway under his desk? Jeff pushed the chair aside and looked beneath the desk, only to find solid floor.

"…the hell?"

"Troy? Abed?" Annie called down the staircase.

Jeff came around to her side and capped his hand over his brow to get a better look at the staircase. Troy and Abed's voices floated from deep down inside. Still they only caught snippets.

"…bigger on the…"

"…dinosaurs…"

"…watched enough BBC to work this thing…"

Annie lifted one leg over the edge of the desk, but Jeff grabbed her and pulled her away from the staircase.

"Hold on, what do you think you're doing? I'm not letting you go down into… wherever the hell that is!"

"Troy and Abed are down there! You seriously don't want to see what's going on?"

Jeff's fingers only tightened on her shoulder. "I just know there's some strange shit going on and I don't want you to—"

He was cut off when the desktop snapped shut over the staircase. The desk now appeared to be just a regular old desk. Then a strange sound fired from it, kind of a seesaw sound or a car engine that couldn't quite start. Jeff pulled Annie closer as the desk became transparent then disappeared all together.

"Okay what the hell!" he let go and wandered to the space where the desk had been. No trace of it or the weird spiral stairs. Just gone, as if it had never been there. Gone with Troy and Abed. Annie started toward him but the sound reappeared, like it was coming from far away but getting closer. Jeff took several quick steps, latched onto her again and led her to the corner. There was no telling what was going to happen now.

Just where it had been before, the desk reappeared. The pair of them stared at it like it was some sort of living creature and Annie tightened her grip on Jeff's torso when the door slid open again. The sound of footsteps reverberating on spiral stairs caught their ears before Troy then Abed popped their heads up from underneath the edge of the desk.

"I told you I could get us back just when we left," Abed grinned and came all the way out. Gone were his Calvinball clothes, replaced with a pinstriped suit, sneakers and a long brown overcoat. His hair was longer too, combed all up front and kinda scraggily. Troy came next, also in new clothes. Jeans, blue denim jacket over a striped button up shirt and a life preserver orange puffer vest on top of it all.

"You proved me wrong Doc," Troy laughed as he jumped out.

They turned to Jeff and Annie and regarded them with curious eyes, as if wondering why Jeff and Annie were looking at them like ghosts. They exchanged knowing looks before Jeff snapped.

"Okay you want to explain exactly what the hell is going on?" Jeff yelled. "What's with the desk!? And the clothes! Where'd you go?"

"You mean _when_ did we go?" Troy grinned. "This desk isn't a normal desk, it's a time desk!"

"TARDIS, to be exact," Abed held up a finger.

"No it's not!" Troy snapped. "Dude there's totally a flux capacitor down there!"

That's when Jeff recognized Troy's outfit. Marty Mcfly. Though Abed wasn't dressed like Doc Brown at all. If it hadn't been for the disappearing desk and the freaky stairs he would have thought this was all another joke.

"Wait," Annie held up a hand. "You're saying that that desk is a time machine… and you just time traveled? You were barely gone for a few seconds."

"Six months, twelve days," Abed said.

"This is insane!" Jeff ran his hands through his hair. And to think that only a few minutes ago his only concern was making Annie feel good without exposing his emotions.

"No, Caligula was insane," Troy said. "I'll never look at horses the same way again."

"We just came back as a test," Abed neared the desk again. "To make sure we could arrive just when we left. We're planning on taking another trip… in case you guy want to come with us."

Annie rushed over to Abed and peered down the staircase. "Is it safe?"

"No," Abed said. "Time travel never is. But we can manage. None of us would ever let anything happen to you. You'll be like my companion!"

She didn't waste a single second. She just hugged Abed then hopped onto the staircase and made her way down. Jeff ran over.

"Annie wait! He said it was dangerous! Just wait!"

"Stop being such a girl Jeff!" she looked up at him.

Troy laughed and jumped in next. Leaving Abed and Jeff staring at each other. Every part of him told Jeff to get the hell out of here and… call the police or something. But he could hear Annie down there and he wasn't about to let her out of his sight. Not today and certainly not with Abed nearby. In fact, he sort of reached the end of his rope where Abed was concerned.

"Let's get one thing clear," he stood up straight in front of him. "If anything happens to her…"

"Jeff, we both know that you're coming so you won't be able to blame me if anything happens to her," Abed cut him off. "So why don't we forget the speech for now and get going. Or do you want to explain to Dean Dangerous why his desk is actually a time desk?"

Before he could respond Abed jumped onto the stairs and made his way down. Jeff looked around for a second and contemplated what it actually would be like to try and explain this. He'd wind up in the madhouse again. And maybe he _should_ be in one.

"Abed this is amazing!" Annie's voice echoed and dashed all resistance from Jeff.

He vaulted over the side of the desk and planted his feet on the stairs. The door started to close just as he began to descend into whatever madness he must have stepped into. He could still hear Troy, Abed, and Annie talking down below him and he gritted his teeth.

"Roads?" Troy said. "Where we're going, we don't need roads."


	2. Chapter 2

"Where we're going we don't need roads huh?" Jeff tried not to notice the cars whizzing by in each direction toward and paced towards Troy. "You parked the time desk right in the middle of the highway!"

"It was a quote Jeff! Is Abed the only one allowed to quote stuff?" Troy snapped.

"Guys don't fight!" Annie jumped in. "The Time Desk is fine, we're fine, there's no reason to argue."

"It's fine because it's broad daylight and people naturally dodge road hazards, like time desks!" Jeff muttered then looked around before turning to Abed. "So… yeah, I know that I freaked out because the Time Desk travels in… uh… space instead of just time, but where and when the hell are we?"

"We're just a few miles away from Greendale," Abed hooked the lapels of his overcoat with his thumbs. "And it's exactly 24 hours ago from when we left."

"Wait what?" Jeff frowned. "So you have a time machine that can go anywhere and any time and you only took us back one day?"

"I have to agree with Jeff," Annie said. "I mean before he came down you were talking about taking me to the Renaissance on the Planet Barcelona VI."

"Dumbest planet name ever, might as well called it Uranus II," Jeff muttered, then held up three fingers and counted them down and slightly pointed just as Troy cracked up.

"Your Anus Too…" he glanced around and saw nobody else laughing. "I sometimes miss Pierce."

"The point is," Annie rolled her eyes then swayed a little when she spoke. "A-bed! Can't we go see something cool? Why just one day?"

"Cause Jeff's here," Troy said.

"Excuse me?"

"Troy's right," Abed said. "This is a test run with you. Of all the members of the group, Pierce is the only one we trust less with time travel."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Besides Pierce you're the most likely to pull a Biff Tannen."

"Yeah," Troy crossed his arms. "The Doc is right. We can't take you anywhere unless we know for sure you're not going to disrupt the timeline by boning Martha Washington."

"Why would I bone Martha Washington?"

"Have you seen Martha Washington? She was like the hottest wealthiest widow in Virginia in the mid 1700's."

"But she was married to George Washington! I wouldn't bone her! That's like boning America!"

"You would in between 1757 and 1759 when she wasn't married to him yet!"

"…how do you even know that… and no! I still wouldn't bone her!"

"Guys! Can we please stop talking about Jeff boning the wife of the Father of our Country?" Annie gritted her teeth.

"I agree with Annie, we don't need to worry about Jeff boning Martha Washington."

"Thank you Abed."

"What we really need to worry about is Jeff finding out winning lotto numbers and using it to strike it rich in the present or stopping Allan Connor from disbarring him or boning Jacquelyn Kennedy."

Jeff could actually feel a vein throb on his forehead and the tips of his fingers curled together slightly as he tried to calm down. Why the hell did he come on this stupid trip anyway? He glanced at Annie and refused to think anymore on it. Instead he just focused on trying to figure out a perfect rebuttal to Abed and Troy's assertions that he would bone famous people's wives. That's when his phone beeped.

"Careful not to answer that," Abed said. "That call is meant for the you of yesterday."

"It's not a phone call," Jeff shook his head and glanced at his cell. "It's the auto time update. Probably adjusting because it thinks it's yesterday… well it _is_ yesterday… well today is… nevermind."

He narrowed his eyes at the time and date his clock said.

"Wait… you said we just went back twenty four hours?"

"Yep."

"Then why does my phone say it's 2008?"

Abed, Troy, and Annie all snatched out their phones and stared at them. Troy and Abed reacted first. Both of them rushed toward the Time Desk and stared down into it while arguing.

"I told you that you needed to set the coordinates right!"

"No! I _did _the coordinates just right Doc! It was you that didn't reset the calibration on the Timey Whimey Majigger!"

"Ugh, Troy this is just like when we got stranded on the Mirror Earth!"

"It wasn't that bad! Your other self looked bad ass with a goatee!"

A small clatter came from behind and Jeff turned his attention from the squabbling pair to Annie. Her phone lay in pieces at her feet and she cupped her hands over her face. Jeff took a quick step to her side, picked up the pieces of her phone and fitted the cover onto the back. Then he noticed her body trembling and her eyes darting back and forth.

"Annie…"

"It… it's today." Her voice barely came out as a whisper.

"No, it's four years ago," Jeff kept his voice down too. "Troy and Abed just suck at time travel."

"I looked at the full time and date Jeff," she said, obvious barely held back panic in her voice. "I'm going to be ODing in a couple of hours."

Jeff felt his eyes widen a bit and he glanced at his phone. It was _exactly_ four years ago to the day. He grabbed one of her hands and was surprised at how cold it was. "Annie it's going to be okay…"

"You were the one to ask if I would change it if I could," she said distantly.

"Yeah… but…"

A siren fired off and he let go of her hand as a police cruiser pulled up. Troy and Abed scrambled to shut the "door" of the Time Desk and Jeff stepped up to them. There was no way they wouldn't ruin this and get them all locked up. Jeff didn't travel four years and several miles in the past just to go to jail.

"Uh, is there a problem officer?" Troy patted his pockets until he found his wallet and license.

"You're standing in the middle of the highway gathered around a desk," the officer said blankly. "Do you really need me to say why that's a problem?"

Abed opened his mouth but Jeff stepped in front of him and extended a hand to the policeman.

"Hi Officer… Byington Hello. I'm Jeff Winger, Attorney at Law," he held out a business card. He still carried them with him. "I'm these young men's lawyer. Maybe you've heard of me? I'm the best defense lawyer in the greater Denver area."

"Can't say that I have."

"Well, I'm sure you'll hear all about me from your super. I'm just curious as to what you plan on doing with these young men who just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. I'd like to start getting my defense case ready as soon as possible."

"…I'm just asking them what they're doing with a desk in the middle of the highway…"

"Loitering then? And why do you assume the desk is theirs? Maybe they were just trying to get it off the highway. Is that what we're doing these days? Locking up honest to god good Samaritans? You don't look like the kind of guy that would do that Officer Byington. And why would you? You're not _that_ cop are you?"

"What cop?"

"You know, the old Joe Friday type. The one that never cracks a smile, that guy that always does it by the book. Or the Hutch that's the straight man. Nah, you're the cool cop. The one on the force that everyone wants to be. You're Starsky, I can see it. You like to flash your badge to get the ladies don't you?"

"Well…" Officer Byington shrugged with a little half smile.

"And you don't want to have to lie to those honey's tonight when you're off duty and hitting a bar. Because nobody is going to be impressed by a story about busting a couple of teenagers for loitering. Especially when the epilogue of that story is that their lawyer got them out of jail within ten minutes. So tell you what Byington, I'm going to make this worth everybody's time, because these kids are small potatoes for me too. So check this out. Here's the address to my favorite bar. You go there tonight and tell them that Jeff Winger sent you. Trust me pal, dropping my name is like a stick of dynamite of awesomeness. You'll have to beat the ladies back with a stick. So how bout it Starsky?"

The officer eyed them for a solid second then took business card with L Street's address on it. He grinned at Jeff and slapped his shoulder then turned to Troy and Abed.

"You boys stay out of trouble."

With that he was gone and Jeff tugged on the collar of his shirt and smirked. "I still got it."

"That was awesome!" Troy gushed. "Dude, you like Jedi-ed him or something! I didn't think it would work!"

"Of course it worked," Jeff said. "It's 2008. My lawyer powers are at their peak in this time period. Seriously, I'll bet even Annie was impressed. Right Annie? Annie?"

Jeff spun around but she wasn't there. Troy and Abed looked around too but Annie was no where to be seen. Jeff had forgotten all about her when he worked his lawyer mojo. He almost stepped out onto the highway but stopped himself when he spotted a taxi roaring away. Annie stared back at him in the rear passenger window, her lips mouthed 'sorry'. Jeff started dialing her phone.

"Jeff what's going on?" Abed grabbed his shoulder. "Why is Annie running off like that?"

"Quiet," Jeff stepped away. The phone kept ringing and ringing until he got Annie's voicemail telling him in a sing song voice to leave a message. Jeff tore the phone from his ear and began texting.

"Dude, where's Annie going?"

Jeff sent the text and sighed. "Guys, today isn't just any day in 2008. Today is Annie's OD Day."

Abed just widened his eyes and Troy started pacing.

"Oh crap oh crap oh crap! You don't think she's going to… we need to get to… we need to.. to…"

He grabbed his wallet again, whipped out a photo of the study group and held it in front of his face.

"Okay, we're all still here! But we got to do something! They could start fading at any moment!"

"We don't even know what she's going to do," Jeff said, though every instinct was telling him to hail another cab and tell the man to chase her down. "She might be going to the hospital, she mentioned some stuff about that earlier."

"She might also be going to stop herself," Abed said. "We can't take that chance. We're going to have to split up. Troy, get down to Greendale General, Jeff and I will head to the highschool."

"Got it!" Troy ran into the middle of the road waving his hands at a taxi.

"Jeff, come with me into the Time Desk," Abed said.

Without any protest, Jeff followed him down the spiral stairs. When they reached the bottom he still had to take as second to adjust to the thing. It was massive on the inside. Other staircases led to other rooms and it all seemed to be planned around a central console, in the middle of that was some sort of glass case that housed… something. He never really got an explanation other than it was important. And that all fed into what Jeff recognized as a flux capacitor. He still wasn't sure what to make of it all.

Abed slapped a couple of levers and the engines whined.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Jeff rushed up to him. "You're not taking me back are you!? Because I sure as hell won't let you! Annie's my friend and I'm not leaving 2008 unless she's with me! I don't care if you want to be the big damn hero Abed! I'm the one that makes sure Annie's okay you got that!?"

"Jeff…" Abed raised his brows a bit. "I'm moving the Time Desk off the road and closer to Riverside high. We're not traveling in time and I'm not taking you back without Annie."

"Oh…" Jeff had to shove thoughts of beating Abed up away.

"You know you really have some issues right?"

"Yeah… whatever. Are we there yet?"

"Almost," Abed left the controls and motioned for Jeff to follow.

…

"Okay… why am I dressed like this?" Jeff muttered as they walked toward the school.

"Because we can't risk you being recognized," Abed said. "Both Annie and Troy attend this high school. Neither of them meet you until you form the study group. We can't interfere with that. It could mess up the entire timeline."

Jeff scratched just at the edge of the fake beard he wore. The spirit gum would come unglued if he actually touched the itch so he had to try and get the edges. The glasses annoyed him to no end as well. Okay the entire ensemble bugged him. Slacks, a tweed jacket and a bowtie. What was up with that?

"Okay, so why aren't you disguised?"

"I won't stand out the way that you will, Troy and Annie won't give me a second glance."

At this Jeff smirked. "Well I do have a memorable face."

"I was actually more worried about the fact that you'd stand out by being an adult that's not a teacher in a high school."

"So your answer to that is making me look _older_? Abed, if anything we should use the time desk to take a few years off so I can blend in."

Abed lowered one brow below the other then rolled his eyes, they stopped at a curb just across from the school. "It doesn't work like that Jeff. The disguise will work fine. There's no way to hide that you're not a teenager so if Annie or Troy see you all they'll see is a bearded, bespectacled adult. That should be enough to throw off their memories, provided you don't interact with them."

Jeff managed to just frown and barely resisted the urge to whip out his pocket mirror and see for himself just how old this get up made him look. Instead he focused on the task at hand: Find Annie before she did something crazy… or make sure that Annie does something crazy. Abed had tried to explain it all to him but all the talk of paradoxes and anomalies flew over his head and it didn't help that halfway through Abed's explanation he started using an English accent.

_Come sail Away_ by Styx fired from Jeff's pocket and he retrieved his phone.

"Troy, did you find her?"

"_Um… Jeff_?"

"Troy?"

"_Jeff… uh… what's Britta's address_?"

Jeff flattened his brows down and looked at Abed as he spoke. "You're supposed to be at the hospital. Why do you want to know where Britta lives?"

Abed's eyes widened and he reached for the phone, Jeff took a step back. "Troy. Why do you need Britta's address?"

"_Okay, I kinda got lost and stopped at a bar for directions and I… well Britta's here_."

"_What_? It's ten in the morning? What's Britta doing in a bar?

Abed had his on phone now and was shining some sort of penlight on it, then at Jeff's. Suddenly, he broke into the conversation as well.

"Troy, it's Abed! You're with Britta!? Please tell me she hasn't seen your face!"

"_She's kinda… hey come on Britta! Stop! Seriously! We haven't even met yet!_ _You still have to have paintball sex with Jeff before you even consider me_! _Stuff like this doesn't happen until we're at Greendale_!"

"_Greendale! Ha! Like I'd ever go there…"_ Britta's voice slurred her words through the phone. _"…wait… Greendale…. Hmmm_…"

Jeff and Abed exchanged looks, completely oblivious to the pack of high school students that approached the crosswalk.

"Troy! Get out of there right now! You're becoming a walking paradox generator!"

"_I'm sorry guys! I'm really sorry! I'm trying! She's just seriously hammered! She can barely stand! Jeff, just give me her address so I can get her home_!"

Abed took a deep breath. "Okay… you say she's really drunk? Maybe she won't remember any of this. Jeff."

Jeff shook his head and started telling Troy how to get to Britta's apartment. As he did his eyes trailed to the curbside just in front of them. One lone student rocked uneasily at the curb's edge as if working up the courage to rush after her classmates that walked in unison with the crossing guard halfway across the street. The instant the lady spotted the girl she urged the kids by her forward and waved the straggler to come over. The girl looked both ways then started toward the crossing guard. The lady held her stop sign high above her head for only a moment longer before she grinned horribly and ran the opposite direction, leaving the girl to face the morning rush by herself.

Without even thinking Jeff tossed his phone at Abed and dashed onto the street. The girl hugged herself and jumped every time a horn blared at her and she dodged yet another car. Jeff spotted an oncoming school bus, which he swore was accelerating at the girl. He pumped more speed into his legs and latched onto the girl as soon as he reached her. The pair of them toppled onto the opposite sidewalk while some driver flipped them off. What was wrong with people in 2008?

"You oka…"

The words stuck in Jeff's throat when he saw the girl's face. It had taken a second to recognize her. There were about forty pounds more of her than he'd ever seen, and her face was pockmarked with acne. But he'd seen tears in those Disney blue eyes more times than he liked to admit.

"It's my fault… I shouldn't have crossed…" she sobbed with her unmistakable voice. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Are you hurt? I'm sorry!"

Jeff had no idea what made him do what happened next. It was Annie after all and she was just a frightened seventeen year old. Jeff had never seen her like this. Sure he'd always thought she was young, but she _looked_ young, and not just in the way her cheeks were chubbier and chin less defined, but also in the wide eyed youth in her eyes. More than he'd ever seen. So really how could he help what happened next?

"I'm not forty!" he blurted out.

"I'm sor… wait what?" seventeen year old Annie stopped and focused on him.

'I mean I'm okay," Jeff rolled off of her and sat up, placing his hands on his bent knees. He tried not to look at her but found that he couldn't. It was all too weird. "What about you? Are you okay?"

Annie's lip quivered and she burst into even more tears. "This happens to me all the time! I… I have to go!"

Before he could stop her, Annie bunched her book bag in her arms and rushed away. Jeff threw himself to his feet but by then Abed was across the street and caught him by the arm. Jeff struggled a half second against it before the grip tightened.

"That was her, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Jeff nodded, not taking his eyes off of the long brown hair that jostled over hunched shoulders.

"You didn't tell her your name or anything?"

"I…"

"Jeff, please tell me you didn't give yourself away!"

He finally shook his head and reminded himself to breathe. His head still spun by how strange it was seeing her like that. She'd locked eyes directly with him. His insides twisted from what Abed had told him… that could be bad.

"I don't think she'll remember me," he lied.

"You might be right," Abed stooped down and lifted a piece of paper from the sidewalk then handed it to Jeff.

"An adderall prescription," Jeff's eyes roamed over the paper. "Looks like it's been filled this morning."

"She's probably already used half the bottle," Abed said. "Who knows what she'll remember at this point. We're getting really lucky… and we can follow her. Our Annie won't be far away now."

"Our Annie," Jeff repeated.

Abed lifted his phone back to his ear. "Troy! Sorry, we had an… incident. Now listen to me very carefully. Whatever you do, do not let 2008 Britta take advantage of you! The space time continuum may depend on it!"


	3. Chapter 3

Jeff kept glancing over his shoulder. The encounter with past Annie weirded him out to no end. It was so _her_ and so _not_ her. Like she was a terrified, sad, half Annie. And seeing her only made Jeff want even more to find _his_ Annie. Because it was hard to explain, even to himself, but somehow after seeing her highschool self for only just a few seconds… he didn't know. He just had to find her.

They'd just entered the school and Jeff did his best to keep his eyes peeled for any sign of his Annie. She must have come here! Jeff put the thought in her head to change the past after all. This was the only natural place for her to be. It's what he would have done if it was the day Allan would disbar him.

"There she is," Abed said quietly and Jeff threw his eyes around, but only spotted the younger Annie. They'd followed her but kept enough distance so she wouldn't know. Jeff shook his head and started looking for the other Annie again.

A 'thump' interrupted his search and he turned back to past Annie. She was on the floor now, collecting her books back into her hands. Another girl, taller than her, with blond hair stood nearby and laughed. Jeff narrowed his eyes when he noticed, her foot was extended, obviously the reason Annie was on the floor.

"Watch where you're going Fatty Annie," the teenaged bitch sneered. "And don't touch me, I might catch your ugly!"

For half a second Annie's eyes smoldered but just as quickly they darted away and she picked up her last book. She bowed her head and shoulders as she stood up. Jeff pressed his lips together tightly. Who was that whore and why was Annie letting her treat her that way?

"Aubrey wait up!" a familiar voice echoed around the hallway. Jeff and Abed froze, as did Annie. Troy, sporting his letterman's jacket, walked right past Annie and ran to the girl, that had just finished tormenting her.

Jeff tried to exchange a look with Abed, but the other time traveler ducked to a corner near a drinking fountain, no doubt ready to conceal his face if Troy looked at it. Jeff's beard itched but at least it offered him anonymity. Abed was right. Troy didn't even glance his way. Instead he kept his full attention on this Aubrey chick and asked her to the next dance.

The entire time, Annie stood where she was, her eyes fixed on Troy and body trembling slightly. Her eyes went from excited, to longing, to red rimmed and forlorn in the space of about three seconds. Aubrey kissed Troy on the cheek and Jeff narrowed his eyes, she looked right at Annie when she did it. That bitch!

Annie finally dashed around the corner, hugging her books to herself like a baby blanket. Meanwhile Troy and Aubrey walked off together as if everything was right in the world. Abed joined Jeff's side shortly after that.

"That was Aubrey Nadderman," Abed said. "Troy's high school girlfriend."

"I gathered that," Jeff muttered. "I hope she gets the clap."

"You didn't recognize her?"

Jeff raised a brow. "No, why? Does she go to Greendale too?"

"Hmmm," Abed frowned. "Just feels like you should know her."

"Focus Abed, we have to find Annie."

The pair turned the corner only to back up a couple of steps so they could just peek around it. Young Annie huddled only a few feet away wiping tears from her eyes. Jeff sucked in a deep breath and reminded himself he couldn't go and cheer her up. The space time continuum thingy. Then they heard a little 'pop' and watched as Annie dumped a couple of pills in her hand and downed them. She held her head back with her eyes closed and her hand roamed to rest just above her heart. Her brows furrowed in pain and her fingers curled around the fabric of her dress.

Annie's body shuddered a bit and for half an instant Jeff found himself moving toward her but Abed stopped him. She opened her eyes and darted them about before replacing the pill bottle back in her book bag and scurrying off, again with her head down, arms hugging her books to her body and shoulders hunched. Jeff shook his head.

"This is really sick Abed, we're just watching Annie destroy herself."

"I don't like it either Jeff but we can't interfere."

"Yeah," Jeff muttered and then turned the corner. "So you keep saying. Tell me this though, you're the human analyzing machine. Why does Annie put up with it? I'm sure she's a million times smarter than that Aubrey bitch. She could come up with an insult that would have her mascara running faster than the dean at a hot pants sale."

"It all boils down to self esteem," Abed said. "The Annie of this time period hasn't learned to like herself or think that she can amount to anything. So she just keeps her head down and takes it because she thinks it's the only safe way to survive."

"I just can't believe she's changed so much," Jeff shook his head.

His phone buzzed and he checked the number then glanced at Abed. "It's Troy again."

Abed nodded and answered his phone at the same time Jeff did. The two phones were still somehow linked. Jeff put the phone to his ear but then pulled it back when he heard shouting and a loud banging thud.

"_Jeff! You have to help me!"_ Troy screamed.

"Troy what's going on? What's that banging?"

"_It's Pierce! Oh my god help me! What do I do?!"_

"Troy what the hell!? Are you _looking_ for other members of the study group?"

_"Open the door you dirty pipe mover! I swear I'll gut you if you don't! Open up and listen to the good news about Buddha!"_ they could hear Pierce shouting.

"Seriously Troy I swear to God that if you buy brownies from Shirley today I'm going to-"

"_Stop yelling at me! Chupacabra! Chupacabra_!"

"Troy, this is Abed again. I thought you were taking Britta home. How did you find Pierce?"

_"I didn't find Pierce! He found me!" _Troy yelled as the banging and shouting continued_. "Senor no my tocques! Por favor! Ano de Vaca! Ano de Vaca_!"

"What the hell is going on Troy!? Where are you?"

"_Britta's! I'm at Britta's apartment! Pierce knocked on the door and I answered it! I think he's doing missionary work for his freaky cult! Corazon de Perro_!"

"Why are you shouting Spanish?!"

"_I panicked! I answered the door and saw him and panicked! I thought maybe if I pretended to not speak English he wouldn't recognize me but it only pissed him off… Britta put your clothes back on!_!"

There was more banging and shouting and Troy started sobbing out random Spanish phrases, each more and more unintelligible, between his bawling.

"_Th… this is the worst time travel adventure ever! … This is worse than when we met Catherine the Great_!"

_"I swear to God I'm going to learn your language so I cuss at you proper_!"

There was a final bang and then everything from Pierce was quiet. Troy still sobbed, Jeff and Abed exchanged looks again, both of them trying to figure out what to say at this point.

"So… he saw your face?" Abed finally said.

"_Y…yes_," Troy moaned. "_but we're all still in the group photograph_…"

"I don't think he'll remember you," Jeff sighed.

"_W..what? What do you mean he won't remember me? He looked right at me! He heard my voice_!"

"And what he saw was a black man speaking Spanish," Jeff said. "Seriously Troy, we could stand you next to Obama and put a name badge on you and he _still_ wouldn't be able to tell you apart."

"_You really think so_?"

"I… I actually have to agree with Jeff on this one," Abed said. "Pierce has shown an unusual amount of blindness when it comes to…"

"_Come back to bed sweety_" Britta's voice broke in.

"Troy!" Jeff and Abed shouted.

"_A… Adios_!" The phone clicked off on his end.

"Can we go to Rome next and throw him to the lions or something?" Jeff glared at Abed's direction.

"I think maybe I should go find him," Abed said.

The intercom fired off and they glanced up at it.

"Will Annie Edison please come to the front office. Annie Edison to the front office please."

"That's Annie," Abed said.

"That didn't sound anything like Annie."

"No, I mean Annie, our Annie, is having the front office page herself."

"You can't possibly know that."

"Annie wants to stop herself from having a mental breakdown today. I'm betting that she went and ratted on herself. The student counselor will be waiting for 08' Annie. That way our Annie can make sure the breakdown never happens but she doesn't actually have to confront or look at herself at that age."

Jeff nodded. As usual, Abed made sense. "Okay I'll head out to the front office and find our Annie. You should stay and tail past Annie."

"Maybe we should do it the other way around."

"…Why?"

"Annie, our Annie, is on better terms with me right now than she is with you. There's a better chance that she'll listen to reason if it comes from me."

"Oh I'll bet you'd love that," Jeff's face twisted up. He almost couldn't help it. "You wanna be the guy that goes and talks sense into Annie and saves the day. Bet you expect her to be all sorts of grateful toward you don't you?"

"Jeff, this is getting ridiculous. You know that the Han/Leia kiss meant nothing to me beyond the part I was playing. I wasn't trying steal Annie away from you-"

"Who said anything about me thinking you were trying to steal Annie? Or that I even care about that. I just don't like you taking advantage of her."

Abed pressed his lips together tightly and let out a slow breath. "Jeff, we don't have time for me to pick apart your lies so let me go find our Annie so we can get back home while we still have a timeline to get back home to. I'm asking you to put your ego and extremely thinly veiled jealousy aside for Annie's sake. Can you please do that?"

Without another word Abed headed down the hall. Jeff blinked at his direction a couple of times while he tried to figure out what just happened. Abed had just stolen any protest Jeff might have made and did it without even raising his voice. What the hell was that all about? Shouldn't they be at each other's throats now?

Jeff sighed and leaned against the wall, there was that feeling again. The one he'd only recently learned to feel since coming to Greendale. The one that just sat there in his gut like a rock and made it so he hated looking at himself.

Guilt.

The only thing worse than Truth to a lawyer.

He had actually been willing to endanger Annie rather than let Abed go and find her just because he couldn't handle the fact that they kissed. Annie honestly deserved to go to Space Barcelona without him. He sighed and stripped the fake beard and mustache away. What was the point of it all now? He couldn't save anyone at this point and Troy had likely just made it so that when they met Britta next year she'd have a little mini-Troy bouncing on one knee. Thanks a lot Troy.

A door slammed and Jeff glanced around the corner. Past Annie rushed away from the classroom she'd just been in. Her face was ashen, her eyes wide with terror and her hair was frazzled, like she'd been trying to pull it out. Jeff took an unconscious step toward her. Was it happening right now?

"No no no no no!" Annie squeaked and shuddered as she dashed down the hall.

Jeff trailed after her but made sure to keep a safe distance. Even if he was fast coming to the conclusion that the future was royally screwed, he still had a mission to follow past Annie and… well… he wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do from there. Just follow her.

Not that it was easy. Annie darted every which way, tugging at her hair, sobbing to herself and muttering incoherent sentences. Jeff's stomach turned every time she stopped and downed more pills. She was poisoning herself in front of him and he'd been told not to do anything.

Where the hell were the teachers!? Or school officials, wasn't there anybody at this school that cared that a student was in danger? It was like he was the only one that could see her. Over the last year, saving Annie had become like second nature to him, now he had to fight against it. Even when she fell flat on her face and pounded the floor with her fists he kept his distance and dutifully followed. And with each step he hated this 'adventure' even more.

By the time he actually heard her cry out the word "why" he'd had enough and decided to do… _something _to help her. That decision lasted right until she went into the girls bathroom.

The door clapped shut and Jeff halted in place. What was he supposed to do now? Walk in place until she came out? Abed was right, he was a non-teaching adult at a public school. _Was_ there a way for him to wait outside the bathroom without looking like he wanted to kidnap and do unspeakable things to her?

Fortunately salvation came in the form of another emergency phone call. This one, thankfully, not from Troy.

"Jeff," Abed said. "Are you still tailing past Annie?"

"She's in the bathroom but… yeah. What's going on?"

"The principal just escorted me off campus. It was a trick. Our Annie set this up."

"What?"

"Annie knows exactly what she was thinking today. So she probably bet that didn't hear the page or was too terrified to even go to the front office. Our Annie told the principal that a sex offender was stalking past Annie. I'm lucky I'm not being arrested."

"Okay," Jeff said, not realizing he'd wandered away from the bathroom. "What do you want me to do?"

"Our Annie has to be close by. For whatever reason she's failed to stop herself by now so that means she's going to be more desperate. I'm going to try and rescue Troy. _You_ have to stop her"

"Okay," Jeff muttered and spun a little circle as he looked for Annie. _His_ Annie. "Which one again?"

The school bell rang right above Jeff's head, blaring out Abed's answer. He stepped away from it and lowered his phone. Students trickled from the doors and started forming packs. Jeff scanned every face for Annie but she was no where to be seen.

At one point Troy and a group of football players passed him but Jeff might as well have been invisible. They were too busy talking about a keger they were going to throw. Jeff might have been happy to see Past Troy if Future Troy wasn't boning the timeline out of existence right now. As it was he did his best not to glare at the teenager and draw attention to himself.

And still there was no sign of Annie.

Jeff dialed her phone again but wasn't the least bit surprised when he got her voice mail.

A feral scream drew him from his phone and that was when Jeff realized he'd completely forgotten about Past Annie. He quickly faced the source of he noise and was greeted with a sight he'd never forget.

Annie looked bad before she entered the bathroom, but something had happened in there. Now she looked like hell. Mascara trailed long lines down her face, her clothes hung in a disheveled mess, but worse was her hair. In the bathroom Annie must have taken scissors to it. Huge chunks of it were now gone and what remained were in ragged tatters at seeming random points on her head.

Her classmates all saw the same thing Jeff did, and while some backed away like some sort of wild animal had infiltrated the school, many others grinned and laughed, and the more Annie screamed about everybody being robots the more they laughed and cat-called.

Jeff's fingers had worked themselves into fists. This was so wrong! He was just standing by and watching like all of these damn kids! Annie screamed again and ran right past him. She crashed head long into that Aubrey chick and wailed about robot eyes. Aubrey pushed Annie off and the terrified girl struggled to get on her feet.

Without realizing it Jeff started pushing his way through the crowd of gawking teenagers. None of them really fought him, he was taller than most of them after all. At one point he even knocked into Troy. At least _he_ wasn't laughing. The little twerp didn't do anything to help though.

Annie finally got her feet on the ground and her entire body swayed as she stood. Student's backed away and snapped pictures or recorded it on their phones. A few students lowered them when Annie's body shuddered and she looked about ready to fall again. Jeff shoved another kid out of the way as his eyes went to the door at the far end of the hall.

Plate glass.

Logical thought had long since fled. He'd just watched for way too long. He didn't care at this point. Abed's gibberish about timelines, Troy banging pre-Greendale Britta, Pierce attempting to kill him. All he saw right now was a terrified, sick, girl that could barely stand and was about to rush into a plate glass window.

Annie saw something in the crowd of students and screamed again before breaking into an all out sprint toward the door. Jeff moved that same instant. The instinct to catch her took completely over. He was faster than her! He was stronger! He could save her! If only these damned students would get out of his way!

Jeff shoved one last kid and finally got into the path they'd naturally cleared for Annie. She was nearly to the door now. Jeff shoved off at top speed, easily cutting the distance between them. He yelled out her name but she didn't hear him. She just kept wailing toward the damn door.

Almost there, he stretched out a hand. Just out of reach. If he didn't get her now they'd both wind up through that glass. He breathed in a breath for the final push and shoved one leg in front of the other with his arm stretched out, his eyes locked onto Annie's shoulder.

Later on he assumed this is why it hurt so badly when he went down. His entire focus was on Annie. He wasn't prepared to be tackled from the side by Annie.

They both went down in a heap. The floor knocked the breath from Jeff's lungs and he struggled to see what was going on. There was another scream and a chilling crash. Something warm and familiar buried itself in his chest and he managed to sit up long enough to see Annie, his Annie, sobbing into him, her fingers practically clawed his arms and chest as she held onto him.

Student's walked over them to reach the shattered doorway where seventeen year old Annie bled on the concrete.

"I'm sorry," Annie, his Annie cried into him. "I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?"

"Annie?" Jeff breathed still trying to figure out what just happened. His arms wrapped around her as if on their own. Annie stopped him from stopping her. And now she was asking him if _he_ was alright?

"I couldn't let you do it," she pulled away enough to look at him clutch his face with one hand. "I came here to stop me. I was going to do it Jeff… I kept thinking about how hard my life was right now, and how much I hated not speaking to my family and I was going to stop me…"

"I was going to stop you."

"…and that's when I realized this had to happen. I saw you, and you were rushing right at me… at her. I thought I got rid of you when I paged myself. But there you were, about to catch me like you always do. And I realized that if I didn't crash through that door, you'd never catch me again. I wouldn't lose my scholarship, I wouldn't go to rehab, and I wouldn't go to Greendale. And that means I wouldn't meet Shirley, or Abed, or Britta or you… I wouldn't meet you and I couldn't face that. I couldn't lose you Jeff. I'm so sorry for putting you through this."

Logic kicked back into gear long enough for Jeff to realize that what she said made sense. He glanced back the direction where her younger self was. He couldn't see her, there were too many students blocking the way but he could hear low moans coming from that direction. A cold shiver ran up his spine as he replayed what Annie just said to him.

"Oh god," he muttered. "I almost… I could have destroyed… _us_. I mean… I mean us meeting!"

With each second he realized how close he'd come to stopping her. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe if she hadn't crashed through that glass she might have still wound up at Greendale. But only now Jeff realized how big the risk actually was. He might never have met her. His grip on her tightened and he kissed her forehead. He didn't care that by now most the students that _had_ been watching past Annie were now watching him and future Annie. They could all go to hell. He had Annie and he wasn't letting go.

* * *

As wrong as it felt, neither of them went to help past Annie. That's how Annie remembered it after all. They managed to get up and go to a far corner where they could watch but not be in the way. He kept one arm around her at all times and she pressed her body tightly against his when the ambulance finally arrived.

Both of them were shocked to see that, while it had been a latino janitor that called the ambulance, it was Troy that actually lent his phone to the man. And while the teenaged version of their friend never intervened he was one of the first to leave and stop gawking.

"I want to follow her," Annie looked up at him as her past self was loaded onto the ambulance. "Just until she gets to the hospital."

"We probably should," Jeff nodded and managed a smile. "If only to make sure nobody else tries to screw up the past."

"Who else is left?" Annie led the way out the door. "Abed wouldn't do it and I don't think Troy would either."

Jeff bit his lip, he still hadn't told her about what Troy had been doing this entire time. "Well who knows, maybe Chang stowed away and wants to mess things up out of spite."

He'd been going for levity but once the words were out he realized just how not funny they were. That was a very real possibility. Annie shivered against him.

"Yeah we don't need to even joke about that."

"Yeah," Jeff nodded.

The ambulance pulled away as they hailed a cab and told the driver to follow it. They didn't speak to each other the entire cab ride. Jeff just sat with his shoulders wedged in the corner between the door and the seat and Annie snuggled up against him. Halfway through the cab ride Abed called and announced that he had Troy, clothes and all. Jeff let him know where to meet them and Abed let out a long relieved sigh when Jeff used the word 'us', in reference to having Annie with him.

As instructed, the driver let them out in the main parking lot as opposed to where the emergency room drop off area. Annie's mother had been called right after the ambulance and would likely be waiting. So Annie herself needed to stay out of sight. Still they wanted to see it through at least until past Annie was safe indoors. They found a nearby bush and ducked behind it. From there they could see the ambulance pulling up and Annie's mother running up to the back of it. Concern etched on her face as the paramedics jumped out.

"I'll finally get to see him," Annie whispered to Jeff. "The doctor that spoke to my mother. I guess that's the silver lining."

"I guess so," Jeff thought of Rich and cringed.

"What's this?" Annie pulled her hand from his coat pocket. She held the fake beard and glasses in her hand. "Jeff what is this?"

Not wanting to deal with _that_ particular issue Jeff nodded toward the paramedics and her mother.

"I don't see any doctor," he said.

"Jeff…" Annie's eyes roamed his body then she gasped and backed away slightly. "Oh my god! That was _you!_"

"What?"

"This morning! You saved me from traffic!"

'How could you know that?" Jeff turned to her. "Were you watching when I saved her?" he motioned at the ambulance.

"No Jeff!" her voice cracked a bit. "I _remember_ it. The crossing guard lured me in and I ran to not get hit. A man with glasses and a beard pulled me out of the way."

"Annie, there's no way you can remember that!" Jeff said. "I just barely did it in this trip! I couldn't have happened before!"

"I'm not forty!" Annie said and Jeff's eyes bugged out.

"This is impossible!" he whispered. "Is… is it something you always remembered or is it something new?"

"Jeff, it was always you. I don't know, we'll have to ask Abed, maybe we're not thinking fourth dimensionally enough."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"I don't know, Troy said it! Makes more sense then Abed's speech about time being a big ball of 'stuff'. So I don't know, but maybe unless we do something huge to change the timeline, everything that we do here already happened to us in the future… does that make sense?"

"No," Jeff shook his head he was getting a stress headache just trying to wrap his mind around it. "But I gave up on things making sense a long time ago."

Annie kept staring at him with a dumbfounded expression but he turned his attention back to the ambulance. They were just wheeling past Annie out.

"Ever since my breakdown I thought I was alone," Annie whispered. "But I was wrong. You were there the entire time…"

"I don't see any doctor," he muttered, trying not to think about what she just said. Somehow he both liked the idea and was creeped out by it at the same time.

"You always save me…" Annie whispered and the grip on his hand tightened.

"Annie, are you sure you remember right? There's no doctor."

"Of course there is," Annie finally turned her attention back to her younger self and the ambulance. "He's just… where is he?"

Jeff shrugged. "You're sure you remember a doctor talking to your mother?"

"Yeah," Annie's brows furrowed. "It was one of the few good memories I have of the entire thing. A doctor spoke to my mom and told her that all of this was happening for a reason and that it would be alright. He should be there."

They waited another few seconds but no doctor appeared. Troy and Abed showed up behind them and asked what was going on but neither Jeff nor Annie heard them. Their entire focus was on finding the missing doctor. Annie's words kept replaying in his head. _You were there the entire time…_

"He should be there," Annie said. The paramedics were about wheel her into the hospital.

"You're sure it wasn't one of the paramedics?" Jeff said.

"I could see the paramedics," Annie replied. "No, it was a doctor."

"You saw him?"

"Well… no, the paramedics blocked my view. He called my mom, Ms Lieber, her maiden name. The paramedics wouldn't have known that. It had to be a doctor right?"

"Maybe not," Jeff stood.

He ignored the gasps and shocked whispers as he strode over to the ambulance. The paramedics had gotten the wheels to the stretched stuck on the curb. Annie's mother just stood there with her arms folded. Jeff realized that if he was really going to do this, he had to sell it. It would be too suspicious if he just acted like a concerned friend. Just before he reached Annie's mother he pulled out one of his business cards.

"Ms. Lieber?" he said in his most confident voice. "It is Lieber right?"

"That's the name I go by now," Annie's mother gave him an up and down.

"Thought so," he handed her his card. "Hi, I'm Jeff Winger, Attorney at Law."

"Mr. Winger this really isn't a good time-"

"I know you think that but trust me, it's the _best_ time! I heard about the accident your daughter had. I think that we can get a solid case against the school board for having glass that thin. It's a crime what happened and with my help, you'll get every nickel you deserve for your daughter's suffering. Those schoolboard trustees are going to try and sweep it under the rug but we can get a class action—"

"I've heard enough Winger!" Annie's mother snapped. "This _needs_ to be swept under the rug! I'm not traipsing my daughter in front of an entire court room full of teachers and district employees! Then everyone will know what kind of girl I have! Now if you'll do me a favor and leave. _I'll_ do what's best for my daughter!"

Jeff did his best not to snap at her. Annie wasn't kidding about how hard her mother was. He had to remind himself that this woman was probably scared. And that either way, it was all going to turn out alright, at least for Annie. Which was the entire reason he was there.

"Look Ms. Lieber," he said. "I know this seems crazy right now, and you're probably wondering what to do. Maybe even asking 'why is this happening'. That's what we all do in situations like this. But I can tell you that there's a reason why this happened to your daughter…"

"I'm not telling you her name!"

"Okay well there's a reason this is happening to her. She's going to pull through. The scars will heal, she'll get through rehab and go onto some great college. And she'll probably do great things, go great places, and meet great people! Maybe this is what happens to get her there!"

"Ha! Get her where? Some peanut gallery surrounded by people like you?"

"If she's really lucky," Jeff grinned then evened his features out. "All I'm saying is that your daughter is going to be fine, but she'll be even better off if you guys get some payback from those that did this to her. And maybe that's the reason why this happened. So you guys can cash in big on the dirtbags that used 'made in Taiwan' quality glass at a school! Think of how much faster she'll heal if—ow!" Annie's mom suddenly assaulted him with her purse. "Hey what's the big idea!? Okay I'm going I'm going! Just take my card! Okay ow!"

The paramedics finally wheeled Annie away and Jeff took that as an opportunity to retreat from Annie's insane mom. She quickly forgot about him and ran after the stretcher with her daughter. The instant the two of them were inside her daughter dashed out from behind the bush and almost tackled him again. He caught her and held her tight.

"Okay…" it was Abed that seemed the most dumbfounded. "What just happened?"

"Jeff just destroyed the fabric of space and time in the most nicest way." Troy sniffled.

"Y…you!" was all she could get out before peppering his face with kisses. Somewhere in there she even managed to get his lips a couple of times, but nothing that he could do anything with. They weren't really kisses meant for 'romance' or whatever anyway. More of her frantic attempt to show him how grateful she was for what he'd just done. Jeff couldn't help but grin, moments like these were kinda why he secretly loved rescuing Annie all the time. Even if he had to do it _all_ the time.

"Actually," Troy pulled out his group photo again. "Um… maybe Jeff didn't kill the universe. The only thing that's different in this picture is that Jeff and Annie are standing closer. Looks like space and time are safe."

"Even with you sexing up Britta?" Jeff said.

"What!?" Annie dropped herself down from Jeff.

"I didn't have sex with Britta!" Troy said. "She was the one coming on to me! And she kind of passed out before she got her bra off."

"Lucky you," Jeff muttered.

"No, lucky us," Abed said. "I really think we should go now. I have the time desk parked nearby. Every moment we stay here the more danger we're putting the timeline in."

"I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure that in some insane way that only your science fiction mumbo jumbo can explain, we were _supposed_ to be here," Jeff said, gripping Annie's hand. "Besides we ran into Britta and Pierce, and young Annie. I think were out of the danger zone."

Another ambulance pulled up and the paramedics rolled out some dude with his head literally stuck in a juke box. Behind the ambulance Shirley's unmistakable minivan pulled up. The four of them exchanged looks before dashing away to the time desk.

A quick trip down the spiral stairs and they were finally _actually_ out of the danger zone. Abed fiddled with the controls and Troy shoved pieces of garbage into _Mr. Fusion_. Jeff just stood out of the way with Annie at his side.

"I…" she was still having trouble finding the right words to say to him. It wasn't every day you found out that someone you really cared for had saved you twice. "I still don't know how to thank you. You were the only good things that happened to me today."

"You can change your tradition," Jeff said. "that's how you can thank me."

"My tradition?"

"You spend your OD Day anniversary alone every year," Jeff said. "Now you can spend it with me."

Annie smiled up at him. "I guess that's only fair, you were there after all."

She hugged him and he glanced at Abed who gave a thumbs up. Troy ran up behind him with his excited puppy grin on his face.

"Power at maximum! We're ready to go Doc!"

"Okay what's with that?" Jeff finally said, Annie pulled away slightly. "Abed doesn't look anything like Doc Brown."

"Doc is short for Doctor," Abed shrugged.

"I know that," Jeff shook his head. "And he keeps calling you Doctor. Why?"

"Close!" Abed fired his finger at him the grabbed the controls. "So where we going next? We have a big old universe in front of us and a time desk that can take us to the whole of it! Oh we can go to the singing gas mines of Tranthon III. The gas actually sings showtunes! Can you imagine that? Gas singing _Hello Dolly_?"

"Actually," Annie said. "I think one adventure's enough for today. Right now the present sounds really good."

Jeff smiled with one side of his mouth and his eyes darted down at her. "The dean's screening his movie. That's an adventure to me."

"Time travel's wasted on you guys," Troy rolled his eyes. "Worst companions ever."

"The movie's boring," Abed shrugged. "But we have all the time in the world!"

He threw the time desk's levers and it rocked slightly. Jeff and Annie held onto each other to stay on their feet. And for _only_ that reason. Maybe they'd go someplace exotic on their next trip. For now, trying to sort out memories with each other seemed just as big an adventure as anything that might have been done by Dean Dangerous.

Epilogue:

Britta Perry never remembered meeting Troy.

Troy Barnes never owned a horse.

Abed Nadir eventually formed a Greendale branch of Torchwood.

On their next trip in the time desk, Annie Edison beat up Jack the Ripper.

Jeff Winger was shot down by Marie Antoinette.

…

…

…

The Time Desk _will_ return!


End file.
